ჯვარი
“ჯვარი” (jvari) — cross in Georgian. Noun, level A2. the j is a fused j sound: jva-ri. In a live sentence: “ეკლესიაზე ჯვარი ბრწყინავს” — A cross shines on the church. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ჯ, ვ, ა, რ, ი. A word from the everyday Georgian course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Georgian | ჯვარი |
| Read in Latin letters | jvari |
| Translation | cross |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- ჯვარიjvaricross
What it is
A cross — both the sign and the name of a sixth-century church on the hill above the meeting of the Kura and Aragvi rivers near Mtskheta, a model of all Georgian architecture. The same word lives in the verb 'to be wed': jvari davsert — literally 'crossed with the cross'.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
How to pronounce it
the j is a fused j sound: jva-ri
Why it looks that way
From it come the wedding rite and 'to cross oneself'. The Jvari monastery above Mtskheta is named with this word
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- ეკლესიაზე ჯვარი ბრწყინავსeklesiaze jvari brtsqinavsA cross shines on the church
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “cross” in Georgian?
«ჯვარი», read “jvari”. the j is a fused j sound: jva-ri. In a live sentence: “ეკლესიაზე ჯვარი ბრწყინავს” — A cross shines on the church. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2; written with the characters ჯ, ვ, ა, რ, ი.
How is “ჯვარი” written in Latin letters?
jvari. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
From it come the wedding rite and 'to cross oneself'. The Jvari monastery above Mtskheta is named with this word. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.